Research on the Factors Influencing Halal Food Industry Internationalization: A Case Study of Ningxia (China)

Abstract

Halal food industry is one of the most important and potential industries in China under the construction of the Silk Road Economic Belt and the development of China-Arab cooperation. However, the halal food exports in China actually have been just hovering at $100 million in recent years, accounting for only about 0.5‰ of the total amount of global trade, and so its internationalization level is still very low. The question of what factors hindered the internationalization process of halal food industry remains unclear. The purpose of the present paper is to identify the main influence factors of halal food industry internationalization by taking the Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region in China as an example. Based on an in-depth interview survey and qualitative data collected during a wide-scale field research of 36 halal food enterprises and 4 related government agencies, using thematic analysis methodology, it was found out that the critical influence factors of halal food industry internationalization are the halal certification, halal logistics, trade barriers, and language obstacles. This finding will give the relevant government agencies, halal authorities, and enterprises a strong insight about the ways which can help and support the internationalization process of halal food industries.